Reveal Backlog

What a fabulous day! It’s so sunny and warm, it makes me very happy! I enlisted my reluctant child to take some photos of my knitted creations since the light was good.

Look at those colors!

I know I am long overdue. May I present Milo.

Child needs to concentrate on getting the whole project in the frame.

And Larch.

Child needs to take one step closer. Maybe he thought I would pinch him if he got too close.

Bitterroot as well.

Child, child... it's a good thing he is cute.

Bitterroot again.

At least we got the whole scarf in the photo.

And finally, It’s Not a Drop.

Not bad, kid!

Here is an extra shot of Ginkgo, even though you may have seen it already. What the heck, right? I was outside with an armful of scarves after all.

I think I should mark a line where I want my photographer to stand. And center my scarf on my back.

Did I mention it is 75 degrees out? Ok, that is all the fun with photography we can stand for one day. I love reveal day!

Golden Drops of Sun

Oh how happy this makes me!

I can’t wait to finish and show you some proper photos.

I used the It’s Not a Drop pattern, paired with Studio June Super Cash Sock yarn in the amazing shade of A Drop of Golden Sun. Lovely!!

This week I have been in a terrific mood. The weather in Michigan has been unbelievable — 50+ degrees! And I have been cranking away at some goals.

1. The jeans. This is off the table, so I have mentally scratched this from my list.

2. The sweaters. I have been making some plans. I am going to copy a “robe” style sweater I bought years ago from Dress Barn, only I am going to turn the belt into a tab button. It looks kinda like this with riveted belt loops:

image from Undrest

The belt is cute, and it nips in my waist, but I’m always dragging it between my thighs, and I have to be very careful in the bathroom so the ends don’t end up in the toilet. I usually tuck the ends into the sweater to avoid this, but then I am afraid I will forget to untuck them when I am finished, and then I’ll be walking around in public with my tails tucked into my bosom. It’s ridiculous. I made up a swatch in a maroon colored Rowan Tweed. Details to follow.

3. We bought an exercise bike! It is being delivered and assembled today. I’m pretty stoked about that. I lost 7 pounds in the last 5 weeks, mainly due to working at my physical therapy and not eating loads of Christmas treats and desserts. I’m pretty happy about that. But it links back to #1, and sewing in general. I don’t know what size I’m going to end up at, so I don’t want to spend a lot of time and money on projects that I can’t wear for longer than 3 months.

So, henceforth we are not going to discuss #1 or 3 above. Here are some new thoughts:

• Continue using up stash yarn. I have loads of single skeins I bought once upon a time because they were pretty. This is the year I am using them instead of just petting them. I am eyeballing several scarf patterns.
• Make my Pay It Forward projects. I had been thinking about that this week, and then Seraphinalina wrote a post about it, which made me smile. I love when the Universe is in harmony.
• Sort through my quilt projects because tomorrow is the Pajama Party at Shipshewana, and I want to stock up on fabrics (30% off!) to make some quilts. I’ll share photos of my loot next time!

Think Pink

Today for Thursday Think Tank, I am going to be all over the board. How is that different from usual, you are thinking. Ok, you have me there.

To follow up from last week, here is some progress.

1. Make jeans. Ugh. This project got me exactly nowhere. I started with McCall’s 5142. It is possible probable I am the only sewist on Earth who does not belong to Pattern Review. However, the little bits I could extract without a membership, and blog reviews all sounded promising.

Before I even cut the muslin, I measured the pair of jeans I was wearing across the front of the thigh, seam to seam. Then I measured the pattern in size 16, which by all rights should be my size. The front pattern piece had 5″ extra, not including seam allowances. I can only assume the back also had 5″, meaning the thigh would have 10″ of extra fabric flapping around. Egads. I went ahead and cut the muslin just for kicks, and cannot even post results here.

I’ll have to ponder what I want to do about continuing with this goal. I am not super excited to sew jeans. I think I can probably sew a dart in the top of my RTW jeans and call it a day. Check back with me later.

2. Knit 3 sweaters. Ok, I guess I should have aimed for 3 shawls, because I have already completed 2! You saw my Ginkgo. Here is my Milo, all blocked and drying.

I used Knit One Crochet Too Ty Dy sock yarn. At first I really, really did not like the color. I was really expecting shades of PINK from how the ball of yarn looked when I bought it. It just kept reading as ORANGE to me. Not that orange is bad, but you did read my Ginkgo post, right? How many orange triangle shawls do I need? And the orange was kind of rusty and garish, especially next to the lovely PINKs. Eek. But I persevered, and I have to say, I do love it. Love, love it.

3. What was the third thing I was going to do? (I had to actually go check my own blog post. What does that say about the importance of this goal in my life?) Ah yes, the exercise equipment. It’s not craft-related and all, which is why I could not think of it. I did try out the elliptical machines at physical therapy and I think I can manage this. Have you seen how much these cost though? Phewwwwww. Anyway, maybe I just get a membership to the Y and use theirs? Still thinking.

Here is what I am up to today: The It’s Not a Drop Scarf/Shawl. The photo is scooped from Arlene’s World of Lace.

This is rectangular, unlike the other shawls I have been knitting lately. I started out with the loveliest green yarn, but the stitch pattern completely disappears.

I need to start over with something less variegated. I’m thinking Studio June again. I have this beautiful yellow. It’s Super Cash Sock Yarn (80% merino, 10% cashmere, 10% nylon) in the color “A Drop of Golden Sun” and it is amazing. Soft, luscious, a perfect color of yellow.

Are you having a fun day? Well, get to it!